BREVARD – The total solar eclipse is stirring up such a scorching symphony of excitement across Western North Carolina that even the Brevard Music Center and Lyle Lovett are getting in on the action.

For the first time in its 81-year history, the musical education and performance center will open its campus to overnight guests for those who want a front-row seat to the total solar eclipse, which will grace most of Transylvania County Aug. 21.

Those lucky enough to snag a three-night stay at the cabin for a great rate will be a part of the series of special events to celebrate the solar eclipse.

Dubbed “Eclipse Weekend @ BMC,” the events will include special concerts, film screenings and live music leading up to the grand finale – a front-row seat to the once-in-a-lifetime solar eclipse.

Kicking off the weekend, Lyle Lovett and His Large Band will make their Brevard Music Center debut at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 18 at Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium, the music center’s lakeside open-air auditorium.

Tickets range from $25 for lawn seating to $125 for premium seating. This special BMC Presents post-season performance is sponsored in collaboration with Mountain Song Productions.

Lyle Lovett and his Big Large Band will headline a special total eclipse weekend celebration in August at the Brevard Music Center.(Photo: Courtesy of Brevard Music Center)

The concert is one of a series of signature North Carolina-based events celebrating Western North Carolina towns in the “path of totality” during the solar eclipse.

At 2:37 p.m. Aug. 21, the total solar eclipse will take place over Brevard with much of surrounding Transylvania County within the path of totality – a band of about 60 miles wide where the sun, moon and Earth will line up at exactly the same time, throwing midday into total darkness.

It will be the first total solar eclipse seen in the continental U.S. in 38 years and the first to sweep across the entire country in 99 years.

“It’s extraordinary that Transylvania County sits in the direct viewing path,” said BMC President and CEO Mark Weinstein. “We are pleased to offer a series of specially designed events and family-friendly accommodations for anyone coming to the area for this occasion."

The campus has 150 buildings on 181 acres. The 500 students who study at the center and the 80 faculty live on site during the year.

“They will be gone for the summer, so we have the opportunity to use some of that housing for people to experience the eclipse,” said Cally Jamis Vennare, the music center’s director of communications.

She said the center will open the cabins again for the Mountain Song Fest in September and the Brevard College Homecoming in October.

Four-person cabins will rent for $230 a night, with an extra $75 for a rollaway bed. Cabins have mini fridges and microwaves. They are expected to sell out quickly, as is much of the lodging in Transylvania County.

Aug. 19-20, there will be movie showings, including Ron Howard’s “Apollo 13” and Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” on the big screen at Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium, starting at 8:30 p.m. General admission is $16 per adult and $8 per child.

On Aug. 21, Brevard Music Center will host a VIP event, "Total Eclipse of the Sun,” from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a prime viewing location on campus, a barbecue lunch, live lakeside performances, lectures by guest astronomers, and a live stream of the eclipse from the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute, which will also provide safety eclipse glasses.